People deploy the Bridge in a Box in all kinds of creative ways. Here are just a few:
What's your idea or even better post a picture of where you've deployed Bridge in a Box.
I would not deploy them anywhere. I think they are too expensive. I would configure 2 F180 in PTP mode and save over $100. I am not trying to sound rude, but it doesn't take but a minute or 2 to configure a F180, especially if you have a template. Am I missing something? Is there something unique about Bridge in a Box besides the fact they are pre-configured?
Honestly i would rather order 2 F300-16's for less and use those for a far better link (assuming they fixed all the defects).
I just looked up bridge in a box, and as far as i can tell, its literally 2 overpriced f180 that are just preconfigured. Like all the overpriced mikrotik PTP's on amazon that are advertised as preconfigured
The manual :
Specific expertise and training required for professional installers
To ensure that the ePMP is installed and configured in compliance with the requirements of
Industry Canada and the FCC, installers must have the radio engineering skills and training
described in this section. This is particularly important when installing and configuring an ePMP
system for operation in the 5 GHz band (5150 – 5250 MHz – FCC only, 5250 – 5350 MHz, 5470 – 5725
MHz and 5725 – 5850 MHz).
So I can't figure out why someone with those skills and training would pay $100+ extra to have you pre-configure a radio for them when they can do it themselves in seconds.
I'm pretty sure that anyone that would buy Bridge in a Box is Not someone I want installing and mis-aiming 5Ghz noise makers all willynilly pointing at the moon or ground or our POP or our customer's CPE ...
So, yeah, as a WISP, thanks for looking our for the interests of your target market ePMP. Hay ! Here's an idea , why not sell a "NO AIMING REQUIRED !" version of the bridge in a box that comes with a couple of connectorized ePMP radios attached to an OMNI! Just be sure to put a "Install with This End Up ▲" Sticker on the tip of the Omni !
We work with a local school district on various wireless projects and they wanted something simple and easy that their IT dept could setup to connect two buildings close by and only needed 50-100mbps... the bridge in a box solution was perfect and they ended up buying some and doing it themselves.
I'm honestly not trying to be rude here but :
Specific expertise and training required for professional installers
To ensure that the ePMP is installed and configured in compliance with the requirements of
Industry Canada and the FCC, installers must have the radio engineering skills and training
described in this section. This is particularly important when installing and configuring an ePMP
system for operation in the 5 GHz band (5150 – 5250 MHz – FCC only, 5250 – 5350 MHz, 5470 – 5725
MHz and 5725 – 5850 MHz).
So not the local school IT guys looking for something they can install easily.
Local school here and others have Ubiquiti and other pre-configured bridges set up (I haven't seen any Bridge in a Boxes yet). They are ALWAYS poorly aimed, generally pointing every which direction with several eventually sagging and pointing at the ground but they are short enough links they continue to work. The people that installed them have no idea what frequencies or channels they are using or anything at all about how they are configured.
So yeah, when you are seeing interference at a tower the people you would reach out to and ask "hay, would any of your bridges be pointing in the direction of X and happen to be using freq U, V or W ? " they have no clue and even less clue on how to find out. Assuming they let you look at their stuff, and really why would they their little 200ft or less links are working fine, to see if it's the problem you just took responsibility for every network problem they ever have from day forward because even it's a year after you touched it "It hasn't worked right since you guys came out and messed with it !".
@brubble1 wrote:I'm honestly not trying to be rude here but :
Specific expertise and training required for professional installers
To ensure that the ePMP is installed and configured in compliance with the requirements of
Industry Canada and the FCC, installers must have the radio engineering skills and training
described in this section. This is particularly important when installing and configuring an ePMP
system for operation in the 5 GHz band (5150 – 5250 MHz – FCC only, 5250 – 5350 MHz, 5470 – 5725
MHz and 5725 – 5850 MHz).So not the local school IT guys looking for something they can install easily.
Local school here and others have Ubiquiti and other pre-configured bridges set up (I haven't seen any Bridge in a Boxes yet). They are ALWAYS poorly aimed, generally pointing every which direction with several eventually sagging and pointing at the ground but they are short enough links they continue to work. The people that installed them have no idea what frequencies or channels they are using or anything at all about how they are configured.
So yeah, when you are seeing interference at a tower the people you would reach out to and ask "hay, would any of your bridges be pointing in the direction of X and happen to be using freq U, V or W ? " they have no clue and even less clue on how to find out. Assuming they let you look at their stuff, and really why would they their little 200ft or less links are working fine, to see if it's the problem you just took responsibility for every network problem they ever have from day forward because even it's a year after you touched it "It hasn't worked right since you guys came out and messed with it !".
A lot of schools purchase through and lean on VAR's, so I think it's assumed they'll be working with someone that is familiar with RF/microwave tech. We played this roll for our school dist... we gave them advice on target RSSI's and physical aiming, not blasting too much power or using a huge channel width.
It's a pretty idiot proof link to deploy... It uses an mid-gain integrated directional antenna, and the gain (and thus EIRP) is locked (and legal). Features like ATPC and ACS along with small channel widths (5, 10mhz) enable a link between buildings that doesn't completely destroy other 5ghz radios in the area.
This was a very specific use case for the bridge in a box. If they had asked us about linking multiple buildings/campuses over a large geographical region, PtP's off of a shared tower, trying to get through an urban environment... I would have advised them otherwise... but yeah... for connecting two buildings wirelessly by your friendly hands-on campus IT staff... I feel this is a great product for this use case.
"we gave them advice on target RSSI's and physical aiming, not blasting too much power or using a huge channel width."
If they can log into the radio and configure channel widths and transmit power then why not save them $100+ and tell them to just buy a couple of F180s and configure them themselves ? I mean literally the only setting they have to mess with that you didn't expect them to already be configuring is checking "Access Point" on the same page they set the channel width and transmit power. Now they have a Bridge in a Box for $200.
ePMP markets the "Bridge in a Box" as "Plug and Play" specifically for people with zero RF or any other technical skills/knowledge. They are meant to be installed by people that arn't even aware the things have a management interface. The feedback, questions, and pictures of installs on amazon and other sites for these things is pretty telling.